This invention relates to bakery cutting apparatus, and more particularly to apparatus for cutting or slicing bakery products, such as bagels, buns or rolls, prior to packaging and sale. Frequently, a bakery will slice a product to make it easier for the customer to open up the product for such a purpose as toasting, preparing a spread, preparing a sandwich, etc. There are two well-known types of slices that are imparted to a product. One is what is known as a butterfly slice, where cuts are made inwardly from opposite sides of the product, and with the leaving of an unsliced joinder region in the middle of the product where the cuts have not penetrated. The other type of slice is produced by a cut made into the product from one side only. A hinge-type slice results where the cut is not entirely through the product, and a small joined region is left at the opposite side of the product from where the cut is made. With this type of slice, product halves are made that are swingable to an open position in a hinge-type action.
A general object of this invention is to provide an improved bakery product slicing machine which can be employed in making these common types of slices, namely, a butterfly slice with slices or cuts in from opposite sides of the product, and a hinge-type slice (or complete severing of the product), where a slice or cut enters in from one side only.
Another object is to provide a slicing machine for bakery products and the like which is relatively easily adjusted between conditions for making a butterfly-type slice and a hinge-type slice.
A further object is to provide such a slicing machine characterized by a fast and reliable operation, with slicing occurring in product passing serially through a slicing station, with opposed cutters entering into the slicing station from opposite sides, or in the alternative, with a single cutter only used to produce the slicing action.
Yet another object is to provide a cutter machine which is adjustable between these two types of operations which is safe to use.